University Senate Minutes - March 27, 2015

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: March 27, 2015

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center, College Avenue Campus

MEMBERS PRESENT: Admani, Ahmed, Anaele, Anderson, Angell, Aubry, Avadhani, Barbarese, Barraco, Bhuyan, Bodrog, Bolden, Borden, Boyle, Bridgeman, Buchholtz, Bugel, Burrell, Charles, Chen, Cotter, Covello, Dasari, Delnevo, DiVito, Dreyer, Durham, Edward, Edwards, Eisenstein, Elkabes, Fagley, Fennell, Fiore, Gajic, Geis, Gillett, Gould, Grant, Gupta, M. Gursoy, Hackworth, Heckscher, Hinch, Hirsch, Hudson, D. Hughes, Ibrahimpatan, Janniger, Jimenez, Joo, Karamichael, Killingsworth, Kirna, Krishnamurthi, Kukor, Langer, Lee, Lepucki, Jane Lewis, Mahon, Marchick, Martinez, Miller, Miranti, Moran, Morrell, Mouradian, Murphy, Nanda, Nissen, Norville, Oberdiek, O'Connell, O'Connor, Oleske, Oliver, Otto, Padgett, Parry, N. Patel, Pintar, Pirrello, Puhak, Rabinowitz, Ramsamy, Redlawsk, Roth, Saltzman, Schafer, Schulberg, Schwartz, Scott, Settles, Shapley, Spiegel, Stauffer, Stein, Struwe, Suplee, Svasti, Szabo, Szatrowski, Tamburello, Thomas-Hawkins, Tiangco, Toney-Boss, Trehan, Tursi, Van Stine, Velan, Wagner, Wang, Zimmerman

EXCUSED: Abu El-Haj, Alder, Barchi, Boikess, Draves, Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Gibson, Glaser, Gomes, K. Gursoy, Hamai, Kressel, Markert, McGinnis, McKeever, Messer, Mitchell, Powell, Raza, Shapiro, Thompson, Tsakalakos, Wise

ABSENT: Allen, Anthony, Avakame, Balog, Barone, Battle, Bell, Bernstein, Blanchett, Borisovets, Caler, Cantor, Cooper, Covington, Deans, Donald, Eastman, Farmbry, Farris, Fehn, Feldman, Fernandez, Ferraris, Ganesh, Goodman, Gower, Gracias, Grave, Haddon, Holzemer, Holzer, J. Hughes, Iwamiya, Johnson, Joshi, A. Kim, S. Kim, Kumar, Law, Lei, Leibman, Jan Lewis, Lindenmeyer, Lieu, LoMonoco, Lynch, Maher, March, Maruna, Mazurek, McInerney, Meck, Meggali, Millonig, Mitra, Munoz, Navrot, V. Patel, Potter, Rhoads, Robinson, Rogers, Sahi, Salmond, Schiavo, Schurman, Scotto, Shulman, Simmons, Stillwagon, Strom, Sun, Takacs, Triner, Van de Walle, Velez, Vodak, Wasserman, Weigert, Winkler, Winterbauer, Yousaf

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Faculty: Of 106 total: 67 present (63%), 14 excused (13%), 25 absent (24%); Students: Of 49 total: 22 present (45%), 7 excused (14%), 20 absent (41%); Administrators: Of 42 total: 7 present (17%), 2 excused (5%), 33 absent (78%); Staff: Of 17 total: 11 present (65%), 0 excused (0%), 6 absent (35%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 6 present (100%), 0 excused (0%), 0 absent (0%)

View Senate Attendance Record for this Year

PRESIDING OFFICER: Ann Gould, Chairperson

CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, CHARGES, AND CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT - Ann Gould, Chairperson

Senate Chairperson Ann Gould called the meeting to order at 1:21 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Rutgers Student Center, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick. She welcomed all attendees, and summarized the agenda. She then called for a moment of silence in memory of Professor and longtime Senator Jan Dutta.

SECRETARY'S REPORT - Ken Swalagin, Executive Secretary

Agenda: The meeting's agenda,was approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
Minutes: The Minutes of the February 20, 2015 Senate Meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.
Communications: The following communications were presented:

Schedule of 2015-16 Senate and Executive Committee meetings
The May 1, 2015 Senate meeting may begin at 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. to allow time for multiple committee reports, as well as the Senate's annual election.

Executive Committee (EC) Bylaws Change Regarding Annual Elections of Senate Leadership, Executive Committee Members, and Board Representatives

Executive Committee Vice Chair Martha Cotter summarized the Executive Committee's report on Senate Election Procedures. In accordance with parliamentary procedure and established Senate practice, this bylaws change was introduced at the previous Senate meeting. Without further discussion, it was adopted on card vote with one opposed. The change stipulates that Senators may not accept nomination, nor be placed on the initial ballot, for more than one position in any single election for Senate leadership, Executive Committee members, or board representatives.

Senate Executive Committee Report and Recommendation Endorsing Merger of School of Law - Camden and School of Law - Newark - EC Vice Chair Martha Cotter

Executive Committee Vice Chair Martha Cotter summarized the Executive Committee's report endorsing the merger of the School of Law - Camden and the School of Law - Newark. Executive Secretary Swalagin read the report's resolution, as follows:

Resolution In Support of the University Senate's Executive Committee’s report and recommendations:
Whereas, the University Senate Executive Committee and Standing Committees have expressed support for the merger of the Camden and Newark Law Schools; and
Whereas, the University Senate has considered the Executive Committee report and its recommendations, finding those recommendations to be sound and in the best interests of Rutgers University;
Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the Rutgers University Senate approves the merger of the Law Schools on its merits and urges the Board of Governors to do the same; and
Therefore, Be It Further Resolved; that the law school deans provide a status update to the Senate Executive Committee within six months of approval by the Board of Governors.

The report and resolution were discussed, then adopted by the Senate on card vote, with one opposed and seven abstentions.

Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Response to Charge S-1402 on Cost of Textbooks [Note: Link goes to the report as amended and adopted.] - SAC Co-chairs Robert Barraco, Sara Kim, and Samuel Rabinowitz

Student Affairs Committee Co-chairs Robert Barraco and Samuel Rabinowitz, and SAC Member Christina Parry summarized the SAC's report and recommendations on Charge S-1402 on Cost of Textbooks. The committee had been charged as follows:

Examine the current practices involving purchasing and cost of textbooks, and investigate possible solutions to mitigate the costs. Consider previous Senate reports and recommendations on textbooks, as well as practices at other institutions, and possible benchmarks.

The report was discussed. Senator David Hughes successfully moved to separate the two recommendations contained in the report. The SAC co-chairs accepted as friendly a motion to amend by making the final paragraph of the report part of the first recommendation. The first recommendation was then discussed, and adopted by the Senate on card vote, with six opposed, and six abstaining. Rabinowitz then changed the second recommendation to "Consider transitioning an entire degree program, on a voluntary basis, to exclusively open educational resources." The second recommendation, as amended, was discussed, and was rejected by the Senate with only 15 voting in favor.

Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) Response to Charge S-1408 on Athletics Program Deficits - Menahem Spiegel, BFC Chair, and Mark Killingsworth, BFC Subcommittee Chair

Budget and Finance Committee Chair Menahem Spiegel, and BFC Subcommittee Chair Mark Killingsworth presented the BFC's report and recommendations on Charge S-1408 on Athletics Program Deficits. The report was discussed at length. Senator Robert Barraco moved to delete Recommendation 1.A., but Senate Parliamentarian Peter Gillett indicated that he should instead move to have it separated and considered individually. Barraco did so, but the motion failed. Following further discussion, Senator Cotter successfully called the question. The report and recommendations were adopted with 12 opposed.

[Gillett assumed the chair briefly while Gould went to the Senate floor.]

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT - Richard Edwards, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Richard Edwards presented a brief administrative report, commenting on topics including:

US News and World Report ranking Rutgers' Nursing program in the top 25;
admissions;
the success of the "Our Rutgers, Our Future" campaign; and
the New Brunswick Honors College showcases, recruitment, and related events.

Edwards then responded to questions, or heard comments, on the above and a variety of other subjects, including:

faculty and staff contract negotiations; and
the function and structure of University Hospital in Newark.

[Gould returned to the chair.]

BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT ON THE RUTGERS BUDGET - Menahem Spiegel, BFC Chair, and Charles Heckscher, BFC Member

Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) Chair Menahem Spiegel, and BFC Member Charles Heckscher presented their committee's Annual Report on the Rutgers Budget.

OLD BUSINESS: There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS: There was no new business.

REPORTS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES TO BOARDS OF GOVERNORS AND TRUSTEES: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Governors, reported that there had been no Board of Governors meeting since the previous Senate meeting. Senator Robert Schwartz, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, reported on the March 19, 2015 Board of Trustees meeting.

CAMPUS FACULTY AND STUDENT LIAISON REPORTS: Senator Samuel Rabinowitz, Camden Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on that group's recent plans and activities. Senator Mark Bodrog reported on Camden student governing association activities. Senator Martha Cotter, New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson, reported on her group's February 27, 2015 meeting. Senator Vetri Velan, New Brunswick Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee, reported on New Brunswick student governing association activities. Newark Student Member of the Senate Executive Committee Edmund Janniger reported on Newark student governing association activities.

ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 3:49 p.m.

Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin
Executive Secretary of the University Senate